GOP sent a letter to stop OPT Suspension by Trump

Back in May, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with the direction of the Whitehouse, sent recommendations to limit legal immigration during the COVID-19 pandemic. To put out the fire about increasing unemployment rates, DHS turned their eyes to foreign students and workers who are working in the United States. Given that Republicans, especially immigration hawks- Stephen Miller (Senior Advisor to the President), Chad Wolf (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) and Tom Cotton (Senator) have attempted to limit employment authorization programs since 2015, the pandemic provides them more than enough rationales to cut down the immigration-related programs. Surprisingly though, in June 2, 21 Republicans sent a letter, which supports OPT (Optional Practical Training) program, to U.S. Department of State Secretary Mike Pompeo and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. While the order of OPT suspension by Trump is in review, it is seen as “a surprise twist,” from the perspective that it is written by Republicans, who usually have anti-immigration attitudes. The letter written by 21 Republicans contains 2 important recommendations that are assisting non immigrant visa holders to have a smooth transition back to the U.S. in the Fall 2020 intake, and preserving the OPT program. This blog post will have a look at these 21 Republicans’ voices in detail.

We ask your agencies adopt appropriately streamlined processes to ensure international students can enroll in the fall and preserve the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which allows our country to globally compete for market share of international students.

“Dear Secretary Pompeo and Acting Secretary Wolf” by 21 Republicans

Related blog posts: Trump immigration ban to suspend opt

Contents

• International students’ enrollment in the Fall
• Continuous operation of OPT

International students’ enrollment in the Fall

The letter defends the OPT program as oppose to OPT suspension by Trump and highlights the importance of attracting foreign students, who seek study abroad, to the United States. For Republicans, who put their signatures on this letter, having talented and bright students is the core strategy to make the country competitive in the globalized world. In addition, foreign students bring great economic contributions to the U.S. economy. For example, international students, who comprise only 5.5% of the total number of enrolled students in the United States, brought in around $41 billion dollars in the academic year of 2018-2019 alone. Other than the economic values, non American students also benefit American students to develop soft skills which are essential to succeed in the current days.

Now the problem occurs when all U.S. embassy closed their offices for public health in the wake of COVID-19. It is estimated that the number of enrolled students for Fall 2020 intake will decrease around 25%, since global students cannot schedule their visa interviews. In the respond of the disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, 21 Republicans asked related government agencies the following:

• Waive certain interview requirements;
• Prioritize the rescheduling of appointments that were canceled during COVID-19; and
• Create a timely application and renewal process for professors, researchers, scientists, and those that are needed on U.S. campuses when instruction is expected to resume.

Personally, I was surprised to see these requests by Republicans as these are similar to what NAFSA; Association of International Educators requested to Congress back in April. On issue brief, titled Revive and Restore International Education Impacted by COVID-19 , NAFSA urged Congress to direct the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs to provide policy changes in visa renewals and issuance to accommodate various needs from international students and scholars. For instance, NAFSA asked for easy-to-understand and timely processing by:

• Waiving the in-person interview requirement for visa applicants to the fullest extent allowable by law;
• Maintaining priority appointments for international student and exchange visitor visa applicants, to include prioritizing the rescheduling of cancelled appointments in response to the COVID-19 emergency; and
• Accommodating the need for timely visa issuance and renewal for professors, researchers, scientists, and others who do not fall into the category of F and M students or J exchange visitors but are needed on U.S. campuses for the fall 2020 semester.

As you can see, both of requests from NAFSA and 21 Republicans are very alike. It shows the importance of making voices and being advocates for group of international students and scholars.

To that end, we urge your respective departments to communicate and share plans to address the expected increase in demand for visa services, including how U.S. consulates will be able to prioritize and process applications that include F-1 and J-1 visas.

“Dear Secretary Pompeo and Acting Secretary Wolf” by 21 Republicans

Continuous operation of OPT

International educators in the U.S. concerned that current political climate like OPT suspension by Trump would send the wrong message to international students, thus, deter them from choosing the U.S. as their study abroad destination. When the Trump Administration announced the entry ban for Chinese students who intend to study “military-civil fusion strategy” subjects, business and education leaders criticized that these orders would not solve the problem by any means, rather, it would weaken the position of American higher education as to attract and retain international students. Writers of the letter also stated that “the last thing our nation should do in this area [higher education] is make ourselves less competitive by weakening OPT.” Regarding the possibility of OPT program being abused, 21 members of Congress showed their commitment to collaborate to come up with strategic and targeted approaches rather than limiting current immigration programs.

Related blog posts: Chinese students and researchers visa ban by Trump

Additionally, we urge the administration to publicly clarify that OPT will remain fully intact so we send the right messages abroad about the U.S. as an attractive destination for international students.

…

We believe there are strategic and targeted approaches to combatting those practices without weakening or suspending in full our international student programs. 

“Dear Secretary Pompeo and Acting Secretary Wolf” by 21 Republicans

While the Congress hasn’t made any decision or comment regarding OPT suspension by Trump yet, regarding the OPT program and other legal immigration, it is nice to see that more than 20 people from the Republican Party support the OPT program. Hope the letter plays out as a game changer and makes OPT- supporters, visa applicants and current visa holders’ voice heard.

References

• House GOP Immigration Letter Backs OPT For International Students by Stuart Anderson